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i LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 






UNITKD STATES OF AMERICA 



THE CHRISTIAI PEEACIIER 



A SEMON 



DELIVERED IN THE BAPTIST CIIUECII, TUSKALOOSA, ALA 



, ^-.-.^AJi.., 



ORDINATION OF THE' PASTOS ELECT,- 



THE REV. JOSHUA II. FOSTER,— 



On Sunday, March IStii, 1853; 



BY THE 



KEY. THOMAS F. 'CURTIS. 



{PUBLISHED BY BEQUEST OF THE CHURCH) 




TUSKALOOSA: 

PRINTED BY M. D. J. SLADE. 

1853. 



THE CHEISTIAI PREACIIEE, 



2 TIMOTHY: I, 10-11. 



* * OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST * HATH ABOLISHED DEATH, AND HATH BROUGHT 
LIFE AND IMMORTALITY TO LIGHT THROUGH THE GOSPEL, WHEKEUNTO I AM 
APPOINTED A PREACHER. 

Thus vividly, tlius energetically does the Apostle 
Paul describe The Work and Office of the Chris- 
tian Preacher : let this be the subject of our present 
discourse. 

There are, my brethren, in the original language of 
the New Testament, three terms, all of which are very 
commonly translated in our authorized English version, 
by the verb " to preach." 

Without going into any critical niceties in regard to 
them, enough of their meaning may be easily extracted 
from the connections in which they occur, to shew us 
much of the dwinelg inspired idea of the office of the 
Christian preacher. 

I. The first of the terms to which I would invite 
your attention (euaggelizo — omai) signifies literally " to 
bring good neiosT It is the word which Atas used by 
the angel Gabriel when, addressing Zacharias in the 
temple, he foretold the birth of John, and declared that 
he was sent to him " to slieio these glad tidings^ 
(Luke 1.19.) This is the very term again used by the 
angel, who, in company with the heavenly host, sur- 
rounded by the glory of the Lord, announced to the 
shepherds of Bethlehem, the birth of our Saviour. It 
is rendered in our Bibles, ^'' I hring you good tidings T 



4 

" Fear not, for behold, / hrbig you fjood tidings of great 
joy, which shall be to all people ; for unto you is born 
this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ 
the Lord." From this term, our English word evan- 
gelize is formed. 

Here, then, is the first idea given to us by the Holy 
Spirit of the work of the Christian preacher. He is 
to be the angel, (for our English word angel is made 
out of one of the components of this term) or messen- 
ger of good news. 

The word is however calculated, not so much to fix 
attention on him as the messenger, as on the nature 
of his message, the gospel — the good news of salvation 
through Christ. 

Not every species of glad tidings, is it the duty of 
the minister to occupy himself in delivering. As a 
Christian preacher it belongs to him to dwell only on 
that good news which grows out of the work of Christ. 

And while Christianity effects good incidentally to 
the temporal concerns of man, all this does not prima- 
rily form the burden of the gospel message. It is 
Christianity that has raised woman to her present po- 
sition of influence, intelligence and refinement. It is 
Christianity that is the life and soul of all free govern- 
ments, — Christianity tliat has formed the happy insti- 
tutions of this ha^ppiest of lands, — Christianity that 
has thus far preserved, and alone can perpetuate them. 
These truths it maybe well for the gospel minister to 
])ear in mind, and to declare on proper occasions. But 
all these things, I apprehend, are not "the good ti- 
dings,'' — the gospel which he is sent specifically to an- 
nounce. 

The greatest value of these temporal blessings to the 



Cliristian its the aHsuraiiee tliev afford, that lie lias not 
followed cunningly devised fables, in confiding liis eter- 
nal interests to Clirist. 

The good news that it is the oflice of the Christian 
preacher to declare, is that which is so vividly an- 
nounced in the text ; tlie immortal interests of man, se- 
cured and illumined hi/ Christ. " Our Saviour Jesus. 
Christ hath abolished death, and hath brought life and 
immortality to light through the gospel, whereunto I 
am appointed a preacher." 

I cannot think, as most appear to do, that the terms 
" death " and " life " here refer exclusively to the death 
and life of the hodj. It is indeed most strictly true, 
even now, that Christ hath to the believer, abolished — 
rendered void — the sceptre of the " king of terrors " — 
abolished death, so far as the soul is concerned, by cer- 
tifying to all men, an immortal existence beyond, and 
illumining through its dark portals, what never was 
thus visible before,^the world to come, in all its gor- 
geousness and splendour. 

And he hath abolished deathj so fa.r as the body of 
the believer is concerned, by compressing its duration, 
and transforming it into a sleep. yes, and a mighty 
and glorious truth it is, that when he wdio was himself 
the prince of life, descended into the dark chambers of 
death, he descended only that he might plant the 
germs of a new" existence in every human grave, and 
then he arose, the first fruit and the pledge of a glori- 
ous resurrection for all united to him. Christ hath 
nullified and abolished death, by substituting for it a 
sleep. So short, so sweet, so silent, so refreshing shall 
be the sojourn of the tomb, so shortly shall this pale 
lifeless form wake up again, reanimated and revived, 



G 

death shall jjo ^o sweeth' changed back again to life, 
and the forms of loved ones, sleeping quietly now in 
the dust of the earth, arise, all beautified and glorified, 
that it may be most literally announced as a part of 
the glad message to be brought home by the minister 
to the hearts of his hearers, that '' Christ hath abol- 
ished death, and brought life and immortality to light." 

But we must be allowed to understand something 
more full, I think, as included in the terms " death " 
and ^^ life " in the text. Death, I take to be here the 
symbol and personification of the whole finished work 
of sin. (Jas. 1.15.) When Christ announced himself 
as " the resurrection and the life, in whom whosoever 
believes shall never see or taste of death," but is al- 
ready passed from it unto life, the terms in question 
are certainly used in a much broader sense than their 
mere literal meaning. The death includes the vfhole 
work of sin upon the soul as well as the body, and the 
life, that process of rencAval commenced in regenera- 
tion, and carried on more and m.ore fully towards that 
glorious consummation, when " the Spirit of him who 
raised up Jesus from the dead, dwelling in us, shall 
quicken also our mortal bodies." 

Here, then, I say is the good news, in all its fullness 
and ^'ividness, — the work of sin rendered void, and the 
immortal interests of the ^vhole m.an, soul and bod}^, 
centred in, and secured and illumined by Christ. Ke- 
generation by the Spirit of Christ, redemption by the 
blood of Clirlst, resurrection by a union with Christ, — 
these form the staple of the preacher's message ; a reli- 
gion connnenced in time, but Vvdiose chief motives and 
liopes are drawn from eternity. 

Christianity is einpliatically the religion of a future 



7 

life, and might, in one sentence, be defined as "• Good 
news from the eternal world." It counteracts the al- 
lurements of the present state, by bringing vividly a 
brighter world before our eyes, and the preacher's suc- 
cess will largely depend upon his bearing this in mind. 
To no other system, not even the Mosaic, hath God 
ever " put in subjection the world to come, whereof we 
speak." (Heb. 2.5.) The true Christian preacher must 
rest all his own motives and plans upon this one basis 
— eternity; on this all his appeals to the conscience ; 
on this all the hopes and happiness which he promises 
to the sin-stricken and sorrowing. 

He is not to stand up in the pulpit, then, to unfold 
a mere political religion for this life, the great end of 
which is to make men happy by reforming civil govern- 
ments and temporalities. Christianity has done more 
for the temporal happiness of man, more for the pros- 
perity of this nation, than all philosophy, or the expe- 
rience of the world beside ; but it is because that holy 
system has turned the eye of man away from his tem- 
poral or political relations primarily, that it has accom- 
plished all this. Christ's kingdom is not of this world. 

Nor is the good news of the Christian preacher, any 
of those new philosophical systems, physical, intellec- 
tual or moral, that occupy so many in these days. 
Some there are, who seem to think bodily health, and 
good phrenological developements, the great secret of 
all happiness and virtue ; others have a new system 
of psycology or biology, which they set up, and by spi- 
ritual rappings, or Swedenborgian visions, or the tran- 
scendental " reason", hope to renovate the world. The 
religion of yet another class is made up of some prin- 
ciples of moral philosophy, founded on what they con- 



sider ccrtiiiii natural relations. Their creed eon.sists 
of no war. no capital punishments; or of fraternity, 
equality and socialism. And these all. at times claim 
more or less affinity with the Christian religion. But 
while such human and ephemeral gospels rise and 
burst like hubljles on the wave, the glad tidings of the 
Christian minister are drawn from those eternal springs 
which are so much deeper and purer in their influence. 
The true preacher therefore needs not aids such as 
these, which are " of the earth, earthy/' many of them 
sensual and de^dlish also. The good news of Christi- 
anity derives its chief potency from its connection with 
another world, and not ^vith this. It teaches each 
man living in time, to act on an eternal scale. Archi- 
medes said he could move the earth, could he only rest 
his lever en a fcAv inches of another world more sub- 
stantial. Christianity, resting its fulcrum on the eter- 
nal world, easily moves the whole framework and in- 
stitutions of the present. 

It is also the peculiar prerogative of the Christian 
minister to lix the faith and affections of his people, 
not on a philosophic system, but on a j^crsonal jSaviour, 
He has to preach, not so much a mere series of doc- 
trines, however true, as Christ " the truth." 

Lord Byron used to say to a friend, that he thought 
himself at least half a Christian, because he believed 
that there '* is no contradiction in Scripture that cannot 
be reconciled by an attentive consideration and compa- 
rison of passages," and received as truth several of its 
chief doctrines."'' So far from this proving him half a 
Christian, it onl}' shewed that he had not yet perceived 

* See Kennedy's Convcraations on Reli^iuu Avith Lord Bvron, pp. 87, 
07, 111, 110, 127. 



/ 



the chief requirement of the gospel, i. e., faith in 
Christ as a person, and not merely even in Christianity 
as a series of doctrines. No man can understandingly 
assert that he believes " all the articles of the Chris- 
tian faith/' because, though he should believe all that 
he may know, or have heard, there may be 3^et other 
points, even in the Bible, to which his attention has 
never been called, — points on which, therefore, he has 
not any belief at all. But the same man may have 
such faith in Christ, as to be willing to believe all that 
he declares, because he is the " teacher come from 
God." He may thus believe, not on the ground of rea- 
son, but of authority; not from seeing its fitness in it- 
self, but from faith in a Being infinitely wise. The 
Ethiopian eunuch, to whom Philip preached Christ, 
may not have heard half so much of Christian doctrine 
as Lord Byron believed in when he wrote to his friend ; 
but he believed in Christ with all his heart, and his 
faith grasping the centre, might therefore safely be 
trusted in due time to radiate outwards to the circum- 
ference. Hence he was a Christian. 

A few philosophers, here and there, like Coleridge,* 
may see, or think they see, that reasonableness in each 
Christian doctrine, that they can embrace it on its own 
account ; but alas for the mass of mankind, if obhged 
to wait for this, before becoming Christians. Indeed, 
while many a man has thus seen the excellence of each 
part of the system, after he has tried it, I doubt if any- 
one in Christendom ever became a believer in this 
way. 

* It may be proper to remark, that few, if any, ever made a personal 
faith in Christ more completely the centre and basis of all right faith in 
Christianity, than this great man. 



10 

The clut}^ of the preacher of tlie gospel, then, is not 
primarily to reason out a system of Christian theology, 
but to preach Christ ; to fix the allegiance of the world 
on him as the king and captain of our salvation, tcv 
centre the discipleship of mankind in him, as the 
teacher come from God. This is equally opposed to 
the vague philosophical impersonalities of German 
scepticism on the one hand, and papal deification of 
saints and virgins on the other. 

We have seen that this word preach has in it essen- 
tially the idea of bearing ^^ good" tidings. It follows, 
therefore, in accordance with the text, that its prevail- 
ing motive is eternal life offered through Christ, rather 
than death threatened. 

But further, — and here lies the main difficulty of 
truly preaching the gospel, — the term before us inti- 
mates that what is said must be " news'' to the hearers. 
The superficial will say that this is impossible : — that 
v\-hat has just been described as the gospel is the same 
system that has been preached these two thousand 
years or near it : — that it might have been novel to 
whose who first heard it, l)ut to us, brought up under 
its sound from childhood, it must have parted with all 
claims to the character of news. 

I would illustrate the fallacy of this notion thus : Is 
there any absurdity in speaking of drawing fresh wa- 
ter out of an ancient spring? Did not Jesus speak of 
living water, as he sat on Jacob's well ? Though the 
principles of the gospel are eternal and unchangeable, 
the forms and combinations of those principles vary in 
every age, and in the individual experience of each 
Christian, and with every new dispensation of Provi- 
dence. Wliat would you think of a correspondent 



11 

who slioiilcl teli you that it was impossible to write 
any news, because his only alphabet was the same a 
b c you had learned in childhood, and as old as the 
English language ? Are not the new and endless com- 
binations of that dear old alphabet capable of throwing 
out the most profound experiences, and original reflec- 
tions of the deepest thinker ? Now thus it is with the 
gospel, the dear old fashioned alphabet of Christianity„ 
It is most dear because it unites the memories of our 
spiritual childhood, with our most m^ature experiences 
of grace in perpetual freshness. The^ waters drawn 
from the old v/ells of salvation will be more fresli and 
pure than those taken from the swollen turbid streams 
of some changing and shallow philosophy. 

In the experience or the exhortation of some earnest 
young Christian, who has not perceived a freshness in 
the gospel arising out of some of its most eternal ele- 
jiients brought in contact with a new heart ? The sea- 
son of spring is as old as creation, yet does it not pro- 
duce new flowers every year ? 

In fact, the application of eternal principles to new 
.circumstances, produces all the newest wonders of the 
age in which we live. The expansive power of steam 
is daily producing great marvels in one direction, that 
of heated air in another, currents of electricity in oth- 
<ers. Yet these principles have all been at work since 
creation, and observed in some of their manifestations, 
and now are only being applied a little differently from 
what they have been. Just so the power of Christ's 
constraining love expands the heart, expels its old and 
feculent passions, and fires it with a thousand new im- 
pulses. These work in unexpected combinations with 
.thje various circumstances in v/hich men are placed. 



12 

and of the age in which we live. But it is the same 
gospel which now produces Missions, and Bible Socie- 
ties and Sabbath Schools, that formerly led Augustine 
to wa^ite his ConfessionSj or Luther to battle with 
Rome, or St. Paul to reason in synagogues and to 
write his Epistles. 

Not many years since, an old sea captain was con- 
verted from a life of great profligacy, and came before 
the church. A deacon wdiose fortune consisted in some 
valuable mills and water privileges, asked him whether 
he did not fear that his old habits would soon impede 
his new^ love for religion. '' Sir," said the penitent, 
'^ what do you expect to keep the great wheel of your 
sawMTiills always moving ? " " The stream of water 
which runs through them." '^ And w^hy do you sup- 
pose that wheel will continue to be turned by the wa- 
ter ? " Because it has been suf&cient to move it once, 
and keep it going ever since." " Then, sir, knoAv, that 
there is a stream of living water — God's free grace — 
running through my heart ; — that heart w^ould never 
have beat with love to him once, had not he loved me 
first ; and now^, not until the fountains of eternal love 
are dried up, can my soul cease to turn again with 
love to him." Here was a new illustration of the old 
gospel. 

Now this is the kind of news that the Christian 
minister has to proclaim, — not another gospel, but a 
gospel always new. Those very truths w^ill be news 
to men at the proper time, w^hen their circumstances 
require them, w^hich, if presented out of season, will 
appear as idle tales, utterly stale. Just so, bread will 
taste sweet and fresh to the hungry man, though made 
in the same way for thirty years, if there be only the 



13 

appetite to eat. *^ A 'worcl spoken in seavSon, liow good 
is it ! " '^ The full soul loathetli tlie honey-comb, but to 
the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sAveet." 

.But the great secret of perjDetual newness in preach- 
ing, is for US to prepare our sermons and to deliver 
them with a heart fresh from communion with God. 
One great cause why preaching so soon loses its effect, 
why preachers so soon wear out, is that we have such 
a dead, dry way of preaching living truth.* We lean 
upon our logic too much, on the demonstration of the 
Spirit too little. The true secret of preaching quick- 
ening sermons, is to live near the truths we preach. 
It is a dangerous sign, when all the most evangelical 
and melting parts of a sermon have to be dug up from 
the memory of the past alone, cooked up out of the 
rotten manna of by-gone experiences. Fresh figures, 

* A few years ago I received the following r(?inai-ks, in a private letter 
from a highly venerated friend, of many years experience in the Christian 
life. The letter was in reference partly to the training of some young 
brethren preparing for the Christian ministry, then receiving instruction 
from me. " Oh that I could h^ar some preaching that would do my soul 
good ! — the greater part of what I hear, instead of good, actually does me 
injury. I return disappointed with myself, the preacher, and even the 
people. Instead of intelligence, power, truth, and love : exciting, animat- 
ing, stimulating, I have words, words, words. I have heard in my time, 
some of the greatest preachers of the day, particularly Irving, before he 
went mad, and Robert Hall, before he grew cold, and— in his best days ; 
but now in my old age, while not jQt a completel}'- burnt out volcano, I 
find no comfort, strength or encouragement in public exercises. I go be- 
cause it is my duty, and iny example is of consequence, but return the 
worse. Oh that our young Christian brethren now preparing for the 
ministry might be led to see the fatal consequences of unanimating, unin- 
spiring,, sleepy sermons. Let them preach, I had almost said, anything 
but death. I do deliberately believe that there is a far deeper desire on 
the part of the people to hear an intelligent, powerful gospel ministry, 
than there is to preach such a gospel. Let any man of real talent, with 
even a moderate education, come forth boldly, independently, with the 
fear of God before him, and the love of Christ in his heart, and the peo- 
ple will hear him gladly." 



14 

dnuvn from living providences, and a glo^villg heart, 
are what we need. 

I saw, not long since, notice of a lecture on " the 
culture of the imagination in moral and religious, as 
well as intellectual education." I h^n-e no doubt, from 
the distinguished Christian character of the speaker, 
that the lecture was full of excellent truths. But af- 
ter all, my brethren, what is the proper way to culti- 
vate the imagination for our pulpit exercises ? I an- 
swer, by deep, clear religious earnestness. All gaudy 
tricks of rhetoric disgust well regulated minds every^ 
where, and most of all, in the pulpit. But men always 
think in symbols, when they think deeply, and there- 
fore they alwaj'S express their feelings in strong, con- 
densed, striking figures, when they give free and unaf- 
fected utterance to a full soul. Now it is this kind of 
freshness of figure and feeling, resulting from new 
views and experiences of divine grace, and a deeper 
and more original earnestness, that gives to our dis- 
-courses the most proper imager}'. This A\'ill make 
them alwa\'s '" news." 

Such, my brethren, is preaching, — evangelizing, 
bearing the good news. It matters not in what way, 
whether in personal conversation, as when Gabriel un- 
folded the glad tidings to Zacharias alone in the tem- 
ple ; or publicly, as when, in company with the multi- 
tude of the heavenly host, an angel announced the 
birth of Christ to the listei,iing shepherds. Philip 
^•preached" to the eunuch in his chariot: (Acts 8.35) 
— thus those disciples scattered abroad on the death of 
Stephen, went everywhere "preaching" the word, — 
evangelizing (Acts 8.12). This is the kind of preach- 
ing, if I may so say, which the minister has in common 



15 

with all other Christians. It belongs to the universal 
priesthood of God's elect. It may be carried on in the 
prayer meeting, the sabbath school, or the private con- 
versation, and it must be the foundation of all other 
preaching, more exclusively ministerial. 

II. But I have detained you too long on this, the 
first and chief part of my subject. There is a second 
wovd (kerusso) used more entirely in an official sense, 
and also commonly translated '' to preach." It signi- 
fies literally, and most exactlj^ "to proclaim," "to 
publish." It was in this sense that Noah was " a 
preacher of righteousness" (2 Pet. 2.5), and that Jo- 
nah " preached" unto the Ninevites : — neither of them 
evangelized, — they had no good news to tell, but both, 
hy divine commission, proclaimed the messages of Je- 
hovah. This is the word used when it is said that in 
those days came John the Baptist in the wilderness of 
Judea, "' preaching," or proclaiming as the herald of 
the Messiah, the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Mat. 
;3.1-2). Indeed, the term we are now considering is 
formed out of a word which signifies a herald, or some- 
times an ambassador, the word, in fact, which is used 
in the text " wdiereunto I am appointed " a preacher,'' 
or, as McKnight here translates it, " a herald.'' It was 
used anciently in reference to those who proclaimed 
the laws. The messages might be either read or spo- 
ken, so that they were proclaimed officially and public- 
ly. Thus Moses is spoken of as "preached" unto the 
Jews, " being read in the synagogue every sabbath day 
(Acts 15.21), that is, his laws and writing vv'cre pub- 
licly recited. 

There are two chief ideas of preaching contained in 
his word, which the other did not affi^rd ;— shortness 



IC 

and puhricltij. It tells us that our preacliing must 
contain that element of curtness and crispness, which 
stands opposed to all drawling or apologieS; or expla- 
nationSj or fears of being misconceived — opposed to all 
that pretty word-picking strain of polished sentences 
and rounded p><?i'iods, that never prick a sinner's con- 
science. 

See how the herald flings out his words upon the 
world, and relies on the power that sent him to vindi- 
cate his message. So, as the herald of the cross, must 
the preacher announce God's truth, and leave results 
with him. He must beware even of long winded ar- 
guments and exjDlanations, when he should appeal di- 
rectly to the authority of God and his word. Half hour 
arguments are lost upon a congregation, and worse 
than lost. They often make sinners j^old in reasoning 
against God. The gospel is its own best vritness. We 
must proclaim it more, and argue about it less. '^With- 
out controversy, great is the mystery of godliness." The 
minister is to testify in the name of his master those 
things he knows to be the gospel ; and, if he speak 
truth, God will carry it home to many a heart. 

As the herald of the cross, the preacher is also to 
seek to give his message iniblicity. Now this duty 
w^ill be rendered difficult by the inertness of the idle 
man, the reserve of the proud man, and the timidity 
even of tlie modest and benevolent man. The Chris- 
tian minister will have to harden his face like a flint. 
I mean not that he should put on a bold swagger or 
self-confident bearing, to cover conscious inferiority, as 
some do. No ; — but he must remember that it hath 
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching, of pro- 



17 

claiming liis truth authoritatively, loucllj, boldh' and 
without apologies, to save souls. 

In our studies, when before God, seeking to obtain 
truth, we must be slow, and humble, and cautious in 
receiving. But in standing wp before men to commu- 
nicate it, we must proclaim it boldl}', openly, and to all 
whom we can reach, without caring who mistakes or 
who maligns our purposes. " Go 3'e into all the world 
and preach (proclaim) the gospel." Oh how narrow 
our world is as ministers. We go round in our little 
circle of duties, among some few who come to us to be 
preached to, but what are we doing for that world 
which is the world, which never comes to meet us? 
We retire to our studies, and shrink from all publicitj^, 
timidly and doubtingly advance a few points on the 
sabbath, and then retire again. We even fear to alarm 
the consciences of our hearers, fear to startle, fear to 
appeal, fear to awaken ; — if we do so by accident, then 
like snails do we draw our horns and ourselves into 
our professional shells. 

There is a singular fact connected with the history 
of the word here used for preacher (Jcerux) . It also 
sometimes means a snail, or a peculiar kind of shelh 
fish. This came about thus. At first it meant, as I 
have said, a herald or ambassador preceded by trum- 
pets ; hence it came to be used for a peculiar kind of 
spiral shell employed as a trumpet ; then for the fish 
inhabiting this shell, and finally for a snail, on account 
of the spiral shape of its shell. 

The same gradual alteration often goes on in things 
as in words, till both are strange deviations from their 
original designs. A preacher ought to be a bold pro= 
claimer of the cross, a herald ^oina- forth with confi- 



18 

dencc in his message, and his master everywhere. He 
must aim to be all this. But instead, partly through 
timidity and cowardice, partly through pride, through 
coldness, through idleness, we hardly any of us let our- 
selves out into the great work of preaching Christ, but 
draw in our sympathies, and shrink from touching or 
being touched; we crawl around a circle of ideas and 
duties no larger than a cabbage leaf, — snails in the 
shells of preachers. 

III. There is yet another word (kataggello) com- 
monly translated to preach. It means also 'Ho an- 
nou7ice,'" '' to telir But there is a peculiar force about 
its signification radically. It has in it the idea of bear- 
ing a message doionioards^ and intimates here, that the 
gospel must be hrouglit doion to the comprehension, 
doimi upon the conscience, — liome to the heart. The 
preacher is to bring down the truths of the gospel, in- 
tellectually, to the comprehension of his hearers. As 
a student, he may not soar in high-wrought sentiments 
or speculations or language. He must keep his foot 
on solid ground, on the rock of ages, and not indulge 
lofty flights and cloudy vaporings. His duty is to 
make the way of life clear. Ministers are guide-boards 
to the city of refuge. Their duty is to point the way 
of eternal life, and make it so clear that he who runs 
may read. Each sermon must bring down truth, not 
only so that people may understand it if they will, but 
agreeably to the ancient rule, that they must under- 
stand it, even if unwilling. 

But more: — the preacher should not only bring 
truth io the understanding, but down upon the con- 
science. We have to deal Avith God's wrath ; to shew 
the sinner the enormity of his sins. When, my bro- 



19 

ther, you meet with the thoughtless^ careless reprobate^ 
living as if he had no soul, no immortal interests at 
stake, as if there were no eternity, no heaven, no hell, 
no such thing as "everlasting destruction from the 
presence of the Lord," — then know that that man is 
sleeping in a house that is on fire. He must be awa- 
kened, or perish ; and you, if true to jout office, must 
not only tell him of his danger, but bring these truths 
dowji upon his conscience, with all the directness, force, 
and solemn w^eight that naturally belongs to them. 
No fear of producing personal distaste to j'ourself must 
induce you to soften the message or deaden the blow. 

And when you meet with some old professor of reli- 
gion, backsliding in heart, falling into habits of idle- 
ness or pride, or gluttony or inebriety, then must you 
tell that man that if he live after the flesh, he shall 
die, and not only tell him, but bring home to him the 
conviction as plainly as Nathan said to David " Thou 
art the man ;" point out to him the ^vrath of heaven 
revealed against all such things, and bring it down 
upon him in a vivid consciousness. 

But wdien the sinner savs, with tremblino; and with 
weeping, "I have sinned, and done that which is 
wrong, and it profiteth me not," — then let your heart 
melt with tenderness and sympathy ; tell him of the 
free, forgiving love of God ; tell him of the Saviour 
who has died for him ; tell him that message of God 
at once which says, " Let him go ; I have found a ran- 
som," — and bring it home to his heart. 

When the poor and needy seek water, and their 
tongue faileth them for thirst ; when the souls of the 
pilgrims are faint, and their steps totter, — lead them to 
the springs and fountains of eternal love, put the cool 



20 

waters of life to tlieir parched lij^s. in a word, unfold 
to them some message of everlasting life, and bring it 
home to them. When the sick and sorrowing seek 
your counsels, and your prayers, bew^are of a mere pro- 
fessional spirit, content not yourself with a formal 
statement of the consolations of the gospel. But weep 
with those who weep, and take their cases in secret 
prayer to God, until joii are enabled to bring down 
from the skies, some fresh views of heavenly truth. 
Take then of the consolation wherewith you yourself 
are comforted, and brimr it home to them. 

I Avill only add here, that these truths must all be 
brougJit down to them from above by the minister as 
their good angel, and not flung down to them with the 
least superciliousness, or assumption of superiority. 
When Moses was coming down from the mount, with 
the two tables of the law, indignant at the defection of 
the people, he hurled down the messages of God in 
despair, and brake them. Not thus may the Christian 
preacher ! He must bring down his truths meekly to 
the hearts of the people, coming himself and sitting 
with them, and imbibing there from the same fountains 
of eternal love. 

What an illustration of all this have we in the 
preaching of Peter. Now in Ijoldness, he brings dow^n 
the Avi'ath of God upon their consciences; ^*' Ye denied 
the Holy One and the Just, and desired that a mur- 
derer should be granted unto }'ou, and killed the 
Prince of Life.'' But then how meeklv does he also 
come down and place himself on a level with these 
'• betrayers and murderers "' of his master. As Bunyan 
well says, '' Like a heavenly decoy bird, he puts him- 
self also aniono; them, to draw them the l^ettcr under 



21 

the net of the gospel, saying, " There is no other 
name given under heaven whereb}' ice must be saved."* 
And thus he sits and sings, to allure them to salvation. 
But if the minister has thus to bring truth down to 
the congregation, he must himself first of all go up to 
receive itj — up into the mount of communion with 
God. He has to go where Moses went, amid the thun- 
derings and lightnings and thick darkness, when he as- 
cended Sinai to obtain the law, and into the clefts of 
that rock where God caused the manifestation of His 
goodness and His glory to pass before him. He has to 
go up into the mountain where Jesus went and spent 
whole nights in prayer. Commuion with God must 
be his animating principle. And if, occasionally, the 
mount of prayer become the mount of transfiguration, 
as it will, if at times his soul gio^ws with rapture, as he 
rises to a higher day, if in communing with his Sav- 
iour, he feel himself elevated to a purer atmosphere 
than that of earth, and ready to exclaim, '- Lord, it is 
good to be here ; let us build three tabernacles :" — even 
then must he bear in mind, that these things are only 
intended to fit him for greater labors and temptations 
in the world below. Peter found it so. It was good 
to be there. But it was not good, not right, not per- 
mitted that he should build or abide there. No, they 
must all come down from that mount, and meet the 
busy, bustling world, and wrestle with demoniacs, and 
face trials. Here on earth, nothing is to be abiding 
but duty. The minister must even guard against in- 
dulging a dreamy spiritualism, an impractical unwork- 
ing life of lofty frames. He may not love a life of sol- 

* Jerusalem Sinner Saved, Bunyan's AVorks, p. 235, vol. 1. 



22 

itude and study, even sacred study, too well or too long, 
he may not build his tabernacles even in the mount. 
iVnd each time he goes up, he must ask himself what 
he can bring down, and whether all his retirement and 
studies there, impart to him a greater strength to meet 
the rude rough contact with the world, and bring the 
gospel home to the wants of the afflicted, sinful souls 
around him. Not on earth is there to be erected a 
tabernacle for him, even in the mount. Here he must 
labor, that he may enter into rest at last. And many 
a pilgrim will pass over before him, and climb the hills 
of the heavenly Jerusalem by paths that he points out, 
but cannot yet approach. 

But when his work is done, he shall enter into rest, 
and the angel's voice proclaim to him. Come up hither, 
and I will shew thee the bride, the lamb's wife. Then 
shall his feet tread the paths he has pointed out to 
those who climbed before. Then shall he ascend to 
come down no more, and enter not into tabernacles 
merely, but into the house not made with hands, eter- 
nal in the heavens. 

-when, thou city of our God, 

Shall we thj courts ascend, 
Where congregations ne'er break up, 

And sabbaths have no end. 

I have thus endeavored to depict the office of the 
Christian preacher, by simply considering it in the 
words in which the Holy Ghost speaking, has described 
it for our edification.'-' And what a thought is that, 

* There are two or three other terms, which, though usually translated 
in our English version in some other manner, are occasionally rendered 
by our verb to preach. On two of these, the author had intended to add 
a few words, but it could not well be done in a sermon, and time and 
ppace forbade. For a very able critical discussion of the terms already 
^alluded to, see Campbell's Four Gospels, Prelim. Dis., G, pt. 5. 



23 

brought before us in the words of the text^ that by 
Christ's appointment, a distinct order of men in the 
Christian Church are set apart to such a work and of- 
fice as this ! There is not another employment on earth, 
to which God has attached a tithe of the responsibility. 
Well may St. Paul inquire ; well may each one of us 
exclaim, " Who is sufficient for these things ? " To 
this, all earth, and all heaven can furnish but one re- 
ply, " Our sufficiency is of God." 

Let us learn, then, first of all, the duty of praying 
more for the ministry. To you, to whom God sends 
this day a preacher and a pastor, one whom we have 
all known and esteemed and loved for so many years 
as a Christian, one who hesitatingly but solemnly, at 
your request, is about to give himself up to be your 
earthly shepherd ; surely, my dear brethren, it is not 
too much that he enter on this work, relying chiefly 
on your earnest daily prayer for him and his. His 
usefulness to you will depend largely upon this. 

And further ; sustain him also by your active, uni- 
ted, and co-operative support. I do not refer to pecu- 
niary support, because, it is not necessary. I well 
know that to the measure of your ability, yea and be- 
^'ond, you ever have done and will do that. But se- 
cond his exertions by spiritual, holy and united efforts 
to increase his usefulness. Comfort his heart in every 
way. It is easy to wound a minister's feelings, nor 
will anything animate him more than your co-opera- 
tion. 

And then, extend your prayers and efforts for the 
enlarged usefulness of the Christian ministry generally. 
While now you rejoice in the favors of God, blessed as 
you are with a pastor, of whom such hopes of useful- 



2-4 

iiess are justly entertained, consider the many desti- 
tute churches, and places not so blessed, and pray the 
Lord of the harvest that he will send forth Laborers ; 
yea, encourage the j'^oung to look and press forward to 
this great work. 

There never was a time when there was half the 
work before an educated ministry in our denomination 
that there is now. 

And you too, my dear young friends, now groAving 
up into life, thoughtful, serious, respectful in your at- 
tention to religion, bnt undetermined or unavowed as 
to your personal interest in Jesus, will not you, too, 
retire and pray that the ministrations ofj'our new pas- 
tor may be blessed to your own souls. That will be 
the greatest of all encouragements he can receive. If 
he shall be the means of guiding you to Christ and his 
church, it is all he asks. Thus, in the morning of the 
resurrection, pastor and people shall be again united, 
and rise together triumphant to meet the Lord in the 
air. Thus shall he enter into joy, "bringing his 
sheaves with him." 



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